Techniques Of Television Advertisements example essay topic

Advertising is a collective term for public announcements designed to promote the sale of specific commodities or services. Advertising messages are disseminated through numerous and varied channels or media such as televisions. TV advertising used different techniques to attract and get the attention of people to buy the product being advertised even if they do not need the product. Advertising is expensive in all terms of media. According to Encarta 97, research says that in terms of descending order of dollar volume, the major media in the U.S. are newspapers, television, direct mail, radio, magazines, business publications, outdoor and transit advertising and farm publications. On the other hand, advertising also invests a lot.

In 1987, newspapers received about 27% of advertising investment in the nation. Next in line was television, with about 21% of advertising investment. American advertising leads the world not only in volume of business but in the complexity of its organization and of its procedures: Each year, millions of dollars are spent on institutional advertising that usually mentions products or services for sale only incidentally. Advertising enables manufacturers and others to sell their products in larger quantities than they would otherwise; the increased volume of sales in turn enables companies to sell individual units at a lower cost than if they were produced in small quantities. Advertising also supplies most of the operating funds of the principal communications media. After much work has been done, we still want to know why do people get attracted in buying products being advertised after watching the advertisement.

In other words, what do these techniques do to attract or get the attention of the audience. The purpose of this research was to inform the different kinds of techniques in TV advertising that attract the people or audiences to buy the product being advertised. II.A. History The television started out as nothing more than another new invention. Radio pioneers dreamt of a day when the silent movie would talk. Their dream soon turned into reality. "In the beginning...

25,000 plus became entranced by television at a demonstration at a Gimbel's store, and advertisers were quick to follow the genesis of a massive audience". The timing of the introduction of the television was perfect. The Second World War had just been won. People had money to buy the new television set. "1945, the war was over. Television historian Erik Barnouw describes the times: Electronic assembly lines, freed from production of electronic war material, ready to turn out picture tubes and television sets.

Consumers, long confronted by wartime shortages and rationing had accumulated savings and was ready to buy. Many manufacturers of many kinds, ready to switch from armaments back to consumer goods, were eager to advertise. Returning servicemen with radar experience, who's knowledge was convertible to television, were snapped up by many stations. Advertising agencies were ready; many had already formed television departments and had experimented with television commercials and programming". (Eric Barnouw, 1975, 45) The television was quickly gaining success and popularity. Advertisers had a whole new playing field for their campaigns.

"Television began as an advertising medium. Never questioning how television would be financed, the networks assumed they would attract support. They were right. In 1949, television advertisers totaled $12.3 million. In 1950, the total was $40.8 million. In 1951, advertisers spent $128 million on television.

In a practice adopted from radio, television programs usually carried direct sponsorship. Many shows, such as Camel News Caravan, carried the sponsor's name in the title and advertised a product. Advertising agencies became television's programmers. Given one advertiser and a show title often bearing its name, viewers associated a favorite show with its sponsor and-because of a 'gratitude factor'-would buy the products".

(Biagi, 1992,301) Television advertising is growing rapidly for these past years. People use advertisement to sell their products. Most of all they use television advertisement because attract support of the people. The needs to be done for a commercial work in advertising in televisions: "To sell products, advertisers must catch your eye or your ear or your heart (preferably all three)". (Biagi, 1992,304) An advertiser has to use all the means necessary in order to grab the viewer. He should use bright and vivid colors to instantly attract the viewer; otherwise, he will lose a potential buyer.

Also, keep the commercial simple. Other media allow the consumer to dictate the pace while television dictates the pace. Making the commercial too long and too complicated would make the viewer bored and will also cost too much. "Keep the verbal part of the audio track to a minimum.

Television can get by with few words because it has strong visual movement". (Rothschild, 1987,320) A commercial's success lies in its opening. You can catch or lose the viewer in the first 5 seconds. This span of time is so important that many advertisers show the product during this time.

"Entertainment is used as a means to a more effective sell but never as its own end". (Rothschild, 1987,321) The commercial is supposed to entertain the viewer and make that viewer buy the product. If all the commercial did was merely entertain, then the ad has failed. "The commercial should be believable, natural and realistic". (Rothschild, 1987,321) Fake situations tend to lose the viewer due to its lack of reality. The ad must show the product giving a positive change in the life of the buyer.

For example, if he buys this product, he will become more popular, etc. There are many techniques used in television advertising. These are the following: "Humor. Conventional wisdom has always held that people buy products because they believe them to be nutritious, or labor-saving, or good value for money-not because the manufacturer tells jokes on television". (Ogilvy, 1985,103) The humor content makes us associate with the ad and make us remember the product. One would remember: "I know that commercial!

That cracked me up!" and so would buy the product. "Slice of life. In these commercials one actor argues with another about the merits of a product, in a setting which roughly approximates real life". (Ogilvy, 1985,105) Once again, the importance of true-to-life situations will be the most attractive to the buyer. "Testimonials. The most effective testimonial commercials are those which show loyal users of your product testifying to its virtues- when they don't know they are being filmed".

(Ogilvy, 1985,105) This will show people how good the product is because other normal people use and are happy with the product. "Demonstrations which show how well your product performs are above average in their ability to persuade". (Ogilvy, 1985,107) This shows how good a product really is. The advertisers show how sturdy a brand of tire is, for example. "Problem Solution... You show the viewer a problem with which he or she is familiar, and then show how your product can solve it".

(Ogilvy, 1985,108) With proving that the product can solve day to day problems, advertisers can get more people to buy the product. "Characters. In same commercials, a 'character' is used to sell your product over a period of years. The character becomes the living symbol of the product". (Ogilvy, 1985,108) This will help the consumer recognize the brand more.

The character could be an innocent-looking old man, as used by the Quaker Oats company. "Reason why. Commercials which give the viewer a rational reason why they should buy your product... ". (Ogilvy, 1985,108) Giving a rational reason to the consumer is a good way to sell products -- if the reason you give is good enough. "Emotion.

Researchers have not yet found a way to quantify the effectiveness of emotion, but I have come to believe that commercials with a large content of nostalgia, charm, and even sentimentally can be enormously effective". (Ogilvy, 1985,109) Still the importance of real life situations is emphasized here. Advertisers find a way to connect the emotion of the ad with the consumer and almost instantly sell the product. "Testimonials by Celebrities...

Viewers have a way of remembering the celebrity while forgetting the product". (Ogilvy, 1985,109) "Cartoons can sell things to children, but they are below average in selling to grown-ups. They don't hold the viewer as well as live action, and they are less persuasive". (Ogilvy, 1985,109) Cartoons is a part of everyone's childhood but as we become older, these cartoons become unappealing to us. The techniques of television advertisements persuade us in different ways. These are the following: Brand recognition.

The viewer will associate the commercial with the product-if that commercial was successful. That is why the importance of reality is emphasized. Reality will make the advertisement more believable to the consumer because reality is the place he lives upon. Repetitiveness. In a 30-second commercial, you have to keep on showing the product, otherwise, the viewer will forget what the product is. "Show the package and the product...

The more the package is shown in the commercial, the more likely it is that the consumer will recognize it... Show it. Say its name. Show it some more. End the commercial with the product and the package". (Rothschild, 1987,319) Conclusion The television has become mainstay in our lives.

It is there when we leave in the morning and it is there when we get home at night. We can see televisions anywhere - in households, schools, shops and everywhere else. The main purpose of the television is to entertain us. The television can entertain us by giving some shows that we can watch and some commercials.

The television is our best friend - we spend countless hours watching it and it's shows and it's commercials. This wonder of science has everyone captivated - even the poorest people own a television. They watch it, listen to it, pretty much the same as we do. Except for the commercials. We have the purchasing power to buy the products. The people will dictate if the commercial was a success, depending on the sales of the product.

These commercials captivate us so much that we want everything - from rubber shoes to toilet paper. The reason for these is because that television commercial uses many kinds of techniques that persuade us to buy the product. Ads persuade us into buying the products even though we don't actually need them. These ads tempt us in buying unimportant and not useful products. We can say that we just bought the product and after a few days or months, you will just throw them away.

What a waste of money. These techniques are just tempting us in buying the product that they are advertising. But commercials will continue to sell to us and it is up to each one of us to know where to draw the line.